The
Cancer Research Institute was founded by Prof. V.R. Khanolkar, an outstanding
medical scientist. The Indian Cancer Research Centre (ICRC) was established
in the year 1950. Over the years the centre grew in stature due to its
scientific talent and is recognised as the country's premier Cancer Research
Institute. In 1966, the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and ICRC were amalgamated
to create the first comprehensive cancer centre in India, the Tata Memorial
Centre (TMC) as a grant-in-aid institution under the Department of Atomic
Energy, Govt. of India. The major thrust of research in the Cancer Research
Institute continues to be on cancers relevant to India.

The
institute has different groups working on diverse aspects of cancers. These
are organised in divisions and units. Important amongst these are: Biological
Chemistry Division; Carcinogenesis Division; Cell Biology Division; Chemotherapy
and Stem Cell Biology; Immunology; Cancer Genes; Cellular Carcinogenesis
Unit; Cellular Immunology; Genetic Engineering Unit; Molecular Biology
Unit; Neuro-oncology Unit and Virology Unit. The institute has major support
facilities such as the Laboratory Animals facility, Common Instruments
facilities, Photographic Services, Histology service, Isotope handling
and labelling laboratory and Bioinformatics Centre, graphics facility and
library. It also offers educational programmes at the Ph.D. level to bright,
young students with a first class master's degree in subjects such as biochemistry,
microbiology, zoology, biotechnology, life sciences selected on national
basis and offered fellowship for four years to carry out research work.
The institute also trains every year several scientists working in other
research institutes and universities in advanced techniques. A new centre
is being developed as the national Advanced Centre for Treatment Research
and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in New Bombay. Basic research at ACTREC
will focus on frontline areas such as gene therapy, vector development,
immunology and immunotherapy, molecular genetics and molecular epidemiology,
drug development. The ACTREC will be ready in late 1999.

The
Bioinformatics Centre at Cancer Research Institute, Mumbai, was established
in 1989 as one of the Distributed Information Sub-Centres (DISCs) under
the Biotechnology Information Systems (BTIS) programme of the Department
of Biotechnology, Government of India, with Cancer Research and Cell Biology
as the major thrust areas. The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art
hardware and software.

In
a span of eight years of its existence, the centre has emphasized on the
development of databanks in the areas of its specialization. Important
among these are databases on Monoclonal Antibodies to Intermediate Filament
like Cytokeratins, Vimentin, Desmin, etc., Carcinogenic, Mutagenic and
genotoxic activities, Tissue Culture Cell Lines, Animal House Management,
etc.

The
centre provides services such as online through internet, as well as offline
bibliographic search through CD-ROM, Application Development, Software
development for users' training. The number of external users is growing
rapidly. The centre has also conducted various workshops, symposia and
training programmes on issues related to Bioinformatics, for the benefit
of the users. The host institute has employed their dedicated professionals
to provide services to the scientific and research community in and around
Mumbai.